The Bad Batch carry out a business deal with a group of smugglers, but things go south when Omega discovers they're smuggling a live Wookiee — and a Jedi, no less.
Tropes:
- All There in the Manual: The spider-like creatures' name "Netcaster" only appears in the online episode guide, which only reveals that they are based on the Kinrath rather than being a straightforward Canon Immigrant.
- All Webbed Up: Venomor is last seen wrapped into Netcaster web and dragged up offscreen while screaming in terror.
- Armor-Piercing Response: Echo objects to bringing Gungi back to Kashyyyk, as the Empire may well have a presence there by now, and they don't know whether it's safe for him or not. Hunter points out that Gungi is a Jedi, so nowhere is safe for him. Echo has no response.
- Battle Amongst the Flames: The Trandoshan commander Venomor creates a ring of fire with his flamethrower at the start of his showdown with Gungi. After Gungi wins, he and Omega have to rush to gather the other Wookiees and get the flames put out.
- Big Creepy-Crawlies: The Netcasters look like praying mantises but spin webs like spiders.
- Brick Joke: While staying at Yanna's village, Wrecker eagerly consumes their native beverage, while Echo nervously passes. At the end of the episode, Echo decides to try it after all and notes that it's actually quite good.
- The Bus Came Back: Gungi, from the "Gathering" arc of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, is revealed to have survived the events of Order 66. He's significantly larger and older, meaning it's not entirely obvious at first (though he still has the Cute Little Fangs).
- Chekhov's Gun: The Netcaster nest, and the fact that they won't attack if they don't think you're a threat, is used to help defeat the Empire and their Trandoshan allies.
- Continuity Nod: Gungi's debut in "The Gathering" established him as Hot-Blooded and impatient. He clearly hasn't gotten much better since then, as this episode has him rush off on his own on multiple occasions.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: This is probably the best ending the Bad Batch, and Gungi could hope to achieve. For Gungi, he's made it back home, and he's found a tribe to both look after and be looked after, and on top of that, he's made a new friend in Omega. For the Bad Batch, they've rescued a Jedi and made sure he is safe and sound where the Empire will have trouble finding him.
- Everyone Has Standards:
- The Bad Batch are willing to sell forged chain codes to a group of smugglers and seem to be content to overlook whatever they may be smuggling, but as soon as they find out they're smuggling a living being, Hunter makes it clear he's not going to let that slide.
- Gungi tricks Venomor into being captured by the Kinrath, but even he looks a little shocked when the Kinrath drag him screaming to his Uncertain Doom.
- Gaia's Vengeance: The Wookiees pray to the trees for guidance, and the trees respond by suggesting the plan to antagonize the Netcasters.
- Genuine Human Hide: Well, Wookiee, but the spirit of the trope still applies. Venomor is wearing a patch of Wookiee fur, and sets a hundred Wookiee pelts as the prize for bringing him Gungi.
- The Gloves Come Off: When fighting the Trandoshans, the Batch switch to live rounds after a season and a half of using stun rounds on living beings.
- Kill It with Fire: The Trandoshans' preferred method of dealing with the Wookiees and the forests of Kashyyyk in general, having retrofitted Separatist Armored Assault Tanks into massive flamethrowers, known as Imperial Armored Assault Tanks.
- Mythology Gag: The Netcasters are based on the Kinrath, who first appeared in Knights of the Old Republic. They're largely similar to the enemy in that game, but also demonstrate the ability to create webbing, in keeping with their spider-like look. Unlike the Kinrath, however, they have eyes and are hostile only when threatened.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Venomor decides to not inform the Empire that there is a Jedi on Kashyyyk until they have him in custody. They're all killed in the resulting ambush, taking Gungi's secret to their graves.
- Powerful, but Incompetent: It's only been a year or two since we last saw Gungi. He was a youngling then, he would barely be old enough to be a Padawan learner now. A Jedi Knight he is not.
- Series Continuity Error: Kashyyyk has been established as a Death World that gets more dangerous the lower you go in the forest, with the Wookies living higher in the canopy. The team lands on the floor and proceeds through the forest to a village on foot rather than landing on a platform in the village high in the canopy. On the other hand, the ground and the tree canopy seem to be quite close, so perhaps it's just relative higher ground.
- Sheathe Your Sword: The Netcasters only attack if they think you're a threat, so this is the key to getting through their nest unscathed. The Wookiees deliberately rile up the nest and then stand down so the Netcasters will attack their foes. Gungi then defeats Venomor by luring him into the Netcasters' nest, waiting for them to appear, and immediately deactivating his lightsaber; the Netcasters walk right past him and attack Venomor.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: On two separate occasions, the Bad Batch have to put out fires caused by their battles against the Empire, lest the flames spread into a full-blown forest fire.
- Took a Level in Kindness: The Netcasters are based on the Kinrath from Knights of the Old Republic. In the games they were always hostile and attack the player on sight. Here, despite living on the Death World of Kashyyyk, they're only hostile to those hostile to them.
- Wise Tree: The Wookiees pray to the trees and ask them for help against the Trandoshans. It seems like mere ritual at first, but the trees themselves come up with a plan and communicate it to Gungi.
- Would Hurt a Child: The Empire and the Trandoshans are more than willing to kill Gungi. The same goes for the Vanguard Axis, a droid smuggler group.
- Zerg Rush: The Netcasters fall to blaster fire as easily as any humanoid, but there's so many of them that the Clones and Trandoshans are overwhelmed by force of numbers.
